


Once on this Island

by meowraculous_trash



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, musical AU, once on this island
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-02 01:20:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10934013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meowraculous_trash/pseuds/meowraculous_trash
Summary: An AU using the partial storyline from the Once on this Island musical... How has no one done this yet?? Featuring Marinette as Ti Moune and Adrien as Daniel Beauxhomme. The story will be very similar to the musical but will probably deviate.





	1. We Dance (prologue)

**Author's Note:**

> just to be clear I don't own any of the characters from Miraculous Ladybug or Once on this Island. if you like this and want to draw art or have hcs about this story or literally anything that has to do with this, tag me on tumblr @meowraculoustrash  
> this is my first story in a long time, so please be kind :)

There is an island where the rivers run deep, where the sea, sparkling in the sun, earns it the name “Jewel of the Antilles.” An island where the poorest of peasants labor, and the wealthiest of grande hommes play.

Two different worlds on one island; the grande hommes, with their tremendous hotels who were masters of their own fates, and the peasants, eternally at the mercy of the wind and the sea who prayed constantly to the gods.

Alya, mother of the Earth  
Nino, God of Water  
Tikki, beautiful Goddess of Love  
and Plagg, sly demon of Death and Destruction

Through the village, prayers could be heard for the most mundane things, like a prayer to Alya for luck on a journey, or prayers for miracles, like a prayer to Plagg to stay away from a sick family member.

Marinette lived with her mother, Rosa, in a small hut near the ocean. On days when Alya smiled down on the island, the beach was peaceful and beautiful. But, on days when Nino’s temper flared, the sea turned to storm, worrying Rosa.

Rosa would often walk around the village, doing chores for other villagers, her arms getting caught in the dress that was too large for her emaciated figure. Every cent she earned went to Marinette, making sure she was happy and healthy. And they were happy enough. Villagers could see that Rosa’s love for her daughter had blinded her to the pain she was causing herself. So these villagers would pray to Alya for a plentiful garden, so they could spare more for Rosa and her sweet daughter, Marinette. They would pray to Nino for his calmness, so he wouldn’t drown the two. They would pray to Tikki to ask for someone rich to fall in love with Rosa, so they could perhaps be better off. They prayed to Plagg, asking him to stay away from Rosa’s hut. Marinette and her mother were the most loved by all villagers.

Marinette’s smile made Rosa’s exhausting days worth it. They spent the nights cuddling together for warmth, but on this particular night, Marinette was restless. Her chortles were replaced by cries, as if she knew what was in store for her family that night. This night, the sky had turned green. Something was not right. Nino’s temper had flared, creating a terrible storm. Thunder roared into the night, but Rosa, exhausted from the day’s work, was sleeping deeply and couldn’t hear it. It wasn’t until Marinette began crying that Rosa awoke, and then it was too late. The hut was already flooded. She took Marinette into the village as fast as she could.

Rosa knew she wouldn’t survive this storm.

She kept trying to pass Mari off to someone else, but no one would take her, fearing what would happen to their own families. In a final attempt to save Mari’s life, Rosa exited one of the villager’s huts and ran into the street. With a beat of thunder, Rosa turned around to see a massive wave, crashing down, and separating her from her beloved daughter.

In a moment of pity, or perhaps love, Nino looked down and saw this one small girl. He was so moved by her tears that he picked her up and placed her safely into a tree where he knew Alya would protect her. Alya looked at him and knew that although he had a short temper, Nino was a loving god. There was a gentleness in his eyes that many didn’t understand. Usually she wouldn’t care about a peasant dying with their child, as there was a flow to life that she refused to intervene with. In fact, so many villagers would die with this storm, that she didn’t understand why this small girl caught his attention. Then, she looked into Marinette’s eyes. She understood immediately. There was still the same storm that was found in Nino, and the same gentleness, too, and something else more. Alya could see that she was special, and so she guarded her through Nino’s storm.

The village was decimated. 

But the sun still rose that morning, as if nothing had happened the previous night. Down the road, came two peasants. One petite woman, and one tall and muscular man.

“The Gods are smiling on us today, Tom.” said the woman

“Today they smile, but last night, they tried to blow our heads off, Sabine.” said Tom. 

These villagers were some who could still see the beauty amidst all of the destruction. Tom cleared some rubble away and sat down with Sabine. They ran a bakery in the village and figured that they wouldn’t have many customers today so they closed it for a well-needed vacation. Tom had surprised Sabine with a few leftover baked goods from the day before for breakfast. They admired the sunrise and listened to the birds chirping. The birds didn’t sound quite right, but the couple blamed that on the storm. The chirping turned to crying and Sabine looked up and saw a small girl in a tree. 

“Tom…”

“Mmm?” He asked, munching on a croissant

“We wouldn’t happen to have some extra croissants, would we?”

“Why?” He asked, following her eyes up the tree, “…Oh.”

Tom gently lifted the crying and terrified child down.

“What’s your name?” He asked sweetly. He was holding her in his arms tightly, but she was still shaking.

“Why were you up there?” Sabine asked. The little girl just stared at them and started to tear up.

Tom shot a look at her.

“No, no absolutely not, Tom. We can’t take her in, we hardly have any food for ourselves, when we aren’t stealing it from the bakery. We don’t even have space for her.” 

He widened his eyes and pouted.

“Ah, the puppy-dog eyes? Really? The puppy-dog eyes?” But she couldn’t say no to him now. It was as if Tikki was pulling them closer together with the love they had for each other.

They took her in, and found out from the edges of the village that her name was Marinette. She was very young, but incredibly smart. It wasn’t long before Marinette started helping out around the bakery, and although the hut was crowded and food was scarce, somehow their lives held more. Instead of just loving one another, they had been given something to live for. Marinette was the love of their lives, and she taught them every day how to be more caring and generous, and before they knew it, villagers from the edges of the town had wandered in for their baked goods. 

The villagers told stories about her mother, Rosa, and Marinette when she was very small. But the years passed quickly and that small girl grew up too quickly for Sabine and Tom. And despite trying to keep her grounded, Marinette’s head floated above the clouds. As she became a teenager, she grew interest in creating textiles for the villagers, experimenting with different textures and threads. And more and more she looked up to a grande hommes, Gabriel Beauxhommes, who created incredible clothing available only to the other grande hommes. Because Marinette couldn’t possibly enter that world, she sat day after day at the edge of her village, watching the grand hommes from afar. She dreamt of the day that she would enter their world and finally be able to study under the great Gabriel.


	2. One Small Girl/ Waiting for Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to update a little early :)

Marinette sat by the street, observing the grande hommes from afar, admiring the clean, white linen that shrouded their bodies. The ground beneath her was soft as she took out a sketch pad she had created with old wrapping paper from the bakery and sketched what the grande hommes were wearing that day. She knew at least a quarter of them were Beauxhomme originals, she could spot Gabriel’s designs from a mile away. Gabriel had designs that were daring, yet classic. He took simple silhouettes and made them chic with gutsy fabrics, or bold hemlines and collars. They took Marinette’s breath away.

Suddenly, a fast breeze surprised Marinette and blew her sketch pad away. She looked up and saw a white sports car zooming past. She gaped at it, completely forgetting her sketchpad. This was the closest she had ever been to a grande hommes. Sure, the hill was positioned perfectly so she could see the designs the grande hommes were wearing, but none of them had ever ventured this close. She quickly rushed over, picked up her book and ran to the bakery.

When she entered, Sabine looked up, wiping her forehead. She hadn’t expected to see Marinette there today, she had given her some time off so she could focus on her designs.

“Mari, what are you doing back here? Do you want to come back and work that badly?” Sabine asked with a twinkle in her eye.

“Maman, I saw a car on the road today.” Marinette said in a huff, placing her sketchpad down.

“Don’t you see those often? Or don’t you have a good enough view of the hotels?” Sabine smiled.

“It was on one of our roads, Maman.”

“Oh, I see.” Sabine frowned. She knew her daughter had a fascination with the grande hommes, but she was hoping nothing would come of it. It was dangerous for a villager to even get close to the city, after all, some who had ventured there were found dead on the side of the road not much later.

“Can you imagine having that freedom, Maman?” Marinette took Sabine’s hands and spun her around, “How it must feel to fly like….Like a bird on a breeze! The car was so clean, Maman!”

"Marinette, stop spinning me!” Sabine said with a laugh, “Did you see who was driving it?”

Marinette shook her head and thought for a moment, “Actually, it was a young man, not much older than myself. Oh no! You don’t think he saw me did you?” She cupped her hands around her burning cheeks.

“And what of it? Marinette, you are beautiful, he would be lucky to catch even a glimpse of you.” Sabine paused, and thought about the different paths Mari’s life could have taken. If she were found by a grande hommes, she would probably already be working for Gabriel, not working full-time at a bakery, sneaking off in her spare moments to study from afar.

“Maman, what’s the matter?” Marinette asked, sobering up.

“It’s just… you could have been given so many more opportunities if a grande hommes had found you that day.” Sabine sat on a stool, hunching over.

“You said it yourself, Maman. If the gods had wanted me killed, I would be dead. If the gods had wanted me found by a grande hommes, I would have been found by one. But I’m glad I was found by you and Papa. I love you both so much. There’s nothing a grande hommes could have given me that would be worth more than a life with you and Papa.” She wrapped her mother in a hug, and Sabine wiped a tear away.

“Mari, why don’t you…Go to the beach for a while. You always love it so much there. Find us some shells.” Sabine stood and turned away, trying to make herself busy. Marinette gave her a bittersweet smile and headed toward the beach. She walked along the shore, searching for answers somewhere. She turned her head towards the sky. “

You hear me, Gods? I know you saved me for something special. I’m ready!” She sighed. “Any time now,” she plopped into the sand and folded her arms around her knees, “Don’t you remember me? You can’t forget about me. I know, I just know, that I was meant to do something special. I can’t do anything if you don’t at least give me a chance.” She thought about Maman and Papa. They lived such a simple life, and she was certainly grateful for all they’d given her, but she didn’t think it was quite the life for her. When was the last time they went outside their comfort zone, when was the last time they had went outside the village? When was the last time they dreamed?

And looking out into the waves, she began dreaming, herself. She dreamt that the white car and handsome young man had stopped on the road behind her.

“Marinette!” He called, waving to her.

She turned and ran to him, and he caught her in his arms. His smile was so bright and held so much love for her. She imagined him wearing a Gabriel original, because no love of hers would be caught dead in something less fashionable than that.

“My Lady,” he said, setting her down and bowing. No, that was too cheesy, she decided, shaking her head and smiling.

“Princess,” he said with a cheshire grin, opening the car door. She sat down, imagining the sleek leather running underneath her palms. She grinned as he sat down in the driver’s seat. “Where to?” he asked.

“To the ends of the earth,” she smiled, ruffling his fair, blonde hair. In the theater of her mind, he looked like her favorite model that visited the hotels often. They would drive all day, just happy to be with one another. They would hold hands as he drove and talk about everything and nothing, and when they ran out of things to talk about, they would be happy just to sit in silence together. And when they found someplace to stop for the night, he would turn up the stereo and they would dance in the starlight while Tikki herself looked on at some of her best work.

But it was just a dream.

Mari opened her eyes to the waves and remembered where she was. She was still a village girl, but maybe she could change all of that. She quickly gathered a few shells to bring back to Maman and headed back to her hut, instantly motivated.

She hurriedly handed Maman the shells and grabbed her sketchbook. She sat down in the bakery, using all of her expertise to create one ultimate, perfect garment. She wanted it to be elegant, yet functional. But after hours of sketching, erasing, and begging Maman and Papa for some more paper, she still had nothing. All the motivation in the world, but no inspiration.

_Of course not_ , she thought, _I am in no place to be inspired! I should go to where my thinking is the clearest._

Marinette grabbed her sketchbook and kissed Maman on the cheek.

“I’ll be back soon, Maman!” Mari said, heading out of the door.

“Don’t you want to bring a jacket? It looks like it could rain.” said Maman, more of a command than a suggestion.

Rolling her eyes in love, Marinette quickly grabbed the closest jacket she could and headed for her spot on the hill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey... Kind of facing a dilemma here. I can probably only write about 1,500 words per song/scene, and I want each song to be one chapter. However, I want to know if you all would prefer more words with fewer chapters, or more chapters with fewer words per chapter. Let me know!


	3. And the Gods Heard Her Prayer/ Rain

“So, the peasant girl wants a grande hommes to carry her away?” Alya asked the group who were all lounging about her. Typically, unless there was a big storm or another type of important occasion, the Gods didn’t have much to do. 

 “You know what I should do?” Alya continued, “I should find a tree just full of mangos and pluck one….” she trailed off, eyeing Nino in hopes he would catch onto her game. He was creating little puffs of clouds in his hands and squelching them for entertainment. 

 He looked up, and smirked at Alya. He did love her games. 

 “A juicy mango…” He said, throwing his gaze to Tikki as if to say _Top that!_

 “A lovely mango..” Tikki sighed wistfully, looking down onto the village. In the past, she used to have so much fun making people fall in love. She used to give people soul mates and help them find each other. Then she became bored with that, and in an attempt to flirt with Plagg, she would create soul mates, and have something tragic happen to one of them. One would kill themselves, or the other, and Plagg would have the opportunity to collect someone who lived an interesting life. For a while, it brought Tikki closer to Plagg. But she soon grew bored of those games as well. 

 “A poison mango.” Plagg said, as his go-to response. He, too, had grown bored. Humans always seemed so predictable, none of them ever felt like they had enough time on Earth and always tried to bargain for some way to stay there. Sure, there were a few exceptions, but for the most part, people were born, lived ordinary lives, and died. And all the way to the afterlife, they would tell Plagg about their boring lives. He couldn’t take another day of it.

 “And I’ll drop that mango on her, and maybe knock some sense in her head!” Alya said. “A grande hommes with a village peasant? Can you imagine? I haven’t heard anything _that_ foolish in a long time.” 

 “Yeah, and maybe I could splash her with a wave and wake her up from all this foolish dreaming.” Nino said.

 “Or I could just scare her to death.” Plagg said, ever the edgelord. _If you couldn’t make their lives more interesting, at least make their deaths a spectacle_ , he thought.

 “Or we could just… give her what she wants?” Tikki asked meekly. The idea had just popped in her head out of no where, but this could potentially be very fun.

 “Umm… Girl, what?” Alya asked, taken aback.

 “Yeah, we could give her what she wants. Love is very powerful, and if this is true love, Marinette would be able to cross the island, withstand any storm, she could even… conquer death.” Tikki said, eyeing Plagg who loved a good gamble even more than she did.

 “Love conquer death?” He asked, “I could stop her heart in no time! I could even-“

 “Sure, you could stop her heart from beating, but not from _loving._ Not if love is what she chooses.” Tikki interjected.

 “She wouldn’t ever choose love over life.” Plagg said, knowing human nature like the back of his spiritual essence.

 “This could be an interesting wager,” Nino said, placing his hand on his chin.

 “And much more amusing than mangoes…. Perhaps we…. send her on a journey, I could guide her way across the island” Alya offered.

 “And I’ll be sure to give her strength, when the time is right.” Tikki said.

 “And I’ll make her choose.” Declared Plagg, with a cocky gleam in his eye.

“So I will create the perfect place for two worlds to collide” Nino wiggled his eyebrows and looked at the Gods surrounding him, “ _tonight.”_

This was going to be very interesting.

 Marinette sat down on her favorite perch, looking over the land of the grande hommes. The clouds began rolling and she realized that Maman was correct in her weather prediction. Marinette quickly bundled up and hunched over her book, hoping that might protect her designs from the storm. She heard a rumble of thunder, but fought the instinct telling her to find shelter because she was nothing if not fearless.

 “I’ll set the scene,” Nino declared, “Let there be no moon, and let the clouds race by,”

 The storm rolled in quickly, clouds covering the moon. The rain plopped down on her face in big, fat drops, immediately soaking Marinette’s clothes. She quickly closed her sketch book and started running home, taking the path that passed by the sea. If she could see how far the tide had rolled in, at least she could warn the village.

 “Where the road meets the sea, let the tide be high. Let there be a girl walking by the sea, and let there be rain,” Nino’s face lit up as he cast a spell nearly as powerful as the one that took away Marinette’s mother. “Let there be a car racing through the night. And where the road meets the sea let her wait.”

 The sea seemed to be rushing toward the road, each wave fighting the next in a race toward the asphalt. She paused, looking at the tide wrestling itself. She said a fast prayer to Nino to protect the bakery like he had protected Marinette all those years ago.

 “Where the road meets the sea let him spin,” Nino was on a roll now. Alya put a hand on his shoulder. If he didn’t reign himself in soon, someone could get hurt.

 With a flash of lightning, Marinette watched a car spin off of the path and into the quickly rising tide. With no hesitation she threw her book to the road and rushed to help the driver.

It was hard to see without moonlight, but she fought the current that was twisting her sense of direction. With every step, she felt the waves trying to pull her to sea. She reached her arms out, her eyes closing from the stinging of the salty seawater. Her hand grabbed onto a sleek, metallic handle and she pulled on it. The water was up to her thighs now, and she knew it would only be a matter of time before she was pulled out too far to return. With her eyes still closed, she reached to try to fine someone she could help. Her arm found something fleshy and she grabbed hold of it, pulling as hard as she could. When she could feel that most of the weight was out of the car, she slung an arm over her shoulder and trudged back to the road. 

 Her sketchbook had nearly melted away, but she saved it in her coat just in case. She laid the body down and rubbed her eyes. Finally, she blinked them open and looked down on who she had saved.

 “Let their fate begin now, in the rain.” Nino said, finishing his spell.

 The first thing she noticed was that he was beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. She gasped a breath in. His hair was messy, and he had some bruises on his face and arms, but that didn’t detract from his sharp jawline and symmetric face. She brushed some hair out of his face and ran he other hand along his jawline before she realized what she was doing.

 The storm was still raging on around her, and she had to find them some shelter. She once again slung his arm around her shoulders and trudged back to the village as quickly as she could. She could feel the eyes on her as she made her way through the village. It was bad luck to bring a sick person into the village during a storm, with the belief that it may bring two gods into the village. She opened the bakery doors and tried to get the young man into a comfortable position before closing the door.

**Author's Note:**

> huh so Mari's mother ended up being named after the original author, Rosa Guy...  
> I promise there will be more character interactions, this just had to be like this bc it's a prologue :) I'll probably update once a week, wednesdays, maybe weekends :)


End file.
